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L.K.O.'s Product Review: Rainy Day Root Cellars
Rainy Day Root Cellars in Castle Rock, Colorado offers a variety of sizes of root and combination storage cellars using pre-cast concrete components. I had the chance to inspect one of their installed cellars, and I was quite impressed. Their rugged designs are optimized for safe food and water storage, self-sufficiency, security and other ‘backyard’ or remote site access. In addition to food and water storage, these shelters provide excellent climate-controlled safe-keeping for important papers and sensitive files, firearms, ammunition, batteries, emergency medical supplies, and much more. Standard sizes range from 8′ x 8′ Single Room to 8′ x 24′ Three Room.
Uses and Advantages
The backfill depth of a typical cellar installation minimizes threat from fire, tornados or other strong storms. This depth also provides smaller annual temperature swings than those typical of basements, garages or attics. A typical year-round temperature range for the prescribed installation of a Rainy Day Root Cellar is 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. (Depending on your latitude.) Grains, canned goods, water, medicines, gunpowder and ammunition all store well in a 33 to 70 degree range environment. In addition to an ideal temperature, these root cellars provide optimum sealed, dry and dark conditions without dependence on power. A year’s food storage for a family of four may cost around $15,000, which warrants an appropriate investment in a suitable enclosure to prevent or minimize shortened shelf-life, pillage from vermin or other intrusions.
Design
The Rainy Day web site touts their enclosures as a “safety deposit box” in your backyard. Their heavy duty steel exterior cellar doors provide the first line of defense. At the bottom of the thick tread wooden staircase, the cast-in-place steel opening frames a second lockable steel door for excellent security. Ceiling, floor and walls are all reinforced concrete with all seams waterproof sealed inside and out. Pipe penetrations (typically two 4″ vents) are also sealed inside and out. These can be fitted with forced-air HEPA air filters, to make you cellar double as a fallout shelter. Each room has an adjustable air intake vent, allowing independent temperature control. For models with two or more rooms, a room can be kept warmer or cooler than the others by adjusting the air intake vents. American made, cast aluminum, self-cleaning Lawler Manufacturing blast gates regulate temperature and air exchange. Turn the non-glued, screened intake ninety-degree fitting in the direction of the prevailing wind to adjust air intake. During extreme below zero conditions, a supplied cap over the air intake (in lieu of the ninety) keeps the temperature at desired minimums.
Installation
Rainy Day pre-engineers and designs all root cellars to customer specifications, including individual excavation plans tailored to each location. If desired, they will find a local excavation contractor to further reduce the involvement required from the buyer. In either case, they supply a custom excavation plan to provide a secure, level foundation. They work with a nationwide firm that has numerous concrete pre-cast concrete facilities around the country, which optimizes delivery of primary components and scheduling of on-site work.
Source: http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/07/lkos-product-review-rainy-day-root-cellars.html
